by Alexa Davis
Tucker’s eyebrows lifted and he looked to me for confirmation. I affirmed that he had been drinking at the party (that Tucker hadn’t bothered to show up to), and when he’d been caught and cut off, he left in a huff. I didn’t share the part of the story where Jason and Sara had been caught trying to get into the stable for a literal “roll in the hay.” Neither Rachel nor Tucker ever needed to hear how I’d found them and asked them to leave, only to find Sara outside my quarters later, waiting for me. It was bad enough that Rachel had walked in on the last part.
“Trust fund-baby? What’s his last name?” Tuck asked. I could almost see the gears turning in his head already.
“Steed,” Rachel spat out the word like poison. “Jason Steed. You might know his older brother, Clinton.” Tuck nodded.
“Yeah, we’ve been on opposite sides of the bargaining table before,” he acknowledged. “Grandad was just another oil baron. His kids are the ones who quadrupled the family fortune. Their kids are worthless. Wouldn’t know how to keep a job.”
“You know the family, all right,” quipped Rachel. “Crooked as the day is long, too. If anyone was wondering. They never liked me. Fanny, the mother? I met her once. She wrinkled her nose and remarked that ‘you can always tell the farmhands; hey never get the stench off.’ Oh how I hate that woman.” She glanced up Tuck was watching her curiously. “Oh. My ex is dating your ex.” She gave him a mirthless smile. “Small world, ain’t it?”
I couldn’t help but snort. Tuck glanced at me, and I shrugged and arched an eyebrow. It definitely was a small world, and mine became smaller with every year wiser I got. Mandy came by with three, frosted pints of amber, and I arched my eyebrows at Tuck.
“Looks like everyone got a trade-up though, huh, Tuck?” I winked at Mandy, who crimsoned prettily and smiled at my brother. Tucker blushed, too, and Rachel’s eyes widened before a grin split her face.
“Well, no kidding!”
“It’s still kind of new,” Mandy chirped. “It still doesn’t always seem real.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Rachel agreed, slipping her hand into mine. I squeezed it and held it captive on my lap until she smiled and leaned against me.
“But, Tuck, do you think there’s anything we can do? About this so-called lawsuit?” I asked, finally getting to the crux of things.
“Not until it goes from so-called, to ‘you’ve been served,’ I’m afraid.” Tucker thought for a minute or two, absently massaging Mandy’s hand in his, until she excused herself to get back to work. She promised she’d be back shortly when her shift ended and strutted off, wasting the perfect view of her hind end on my brother, who was in his problem-solving zone. I got a smack on the arm for noticing and mouthed a “sorry” to Rachel, who just shook her head and snorted.
“Dad said y’all bought a thoroughbred,” Tucker mused quietly. He was talking more to himself than to us, so I just let him continue. “He said you finally wore him down,” he added, finally looking up from the table. “You need to start promoting him and, you know, throw a party. At the track, maybe, for everyone who is anyone. Bring out your jockey and even make a public announcement.”
My shoulders sagged. I wasn’t the public figure my father was, and I avoided the media at all cost, at the risk of making myself look stupid.
“That’s a good idea, but I think Pete Call needs to take point on interviews,” Rachel interjected. “And keep it small, keep some mystery. Horse junkies love a mystery to surround a new racehorse. Keeps them talking for months leading up to an event.”
Tuck looked impressed. “Well, well. You really are different from Danny’s other girls,” he blurted, then snapped his mouth shut. “That came out wrong.”
“No, you’re right,” I agreed. “Rachel is learning to be a large animal vet, specializing in the illnesses and injuries that plague the racing community. She’s a big advocate of retraining owners from seeing their horses as financial investments or replaceable property, to taking care of them with the intent to see them retire happily and live long lives after their careers are over.” I felt myself puff up when Tuck looked impressed, and I caught myself grinning like a fool. “God it feels good bragging about you,” I laughed. Rachel just bowed her head humbly and nudged me.
“I’m just telling the truth. Gamblers think they’re freaking detectives. Everyone thinks they have some insider knowledge, or can see something that others don’t. Play into it.” Rachel beamed, happy she was finally the expert in the room. Tucker immediately had some ideas he wanted to check into, and by the time Mandy took off her apron and joined us, we were huddled together and I was getting a crash course on how not to be a public relations pariah.
“You guys look intense. What happened to having some fun and catching up?” she asked as she slid into the booth next to Tucker and started in on the last piece of pizza. Tuck kissed his girl and quickly got her up to speed on the family drama and the ideas he’d had to help us usher in the newest expansion of Lago Colina. Amanda was an amateur jumper, herself, and applauded the addition of equine athletics to the family business.
She and Rachel started talking about up and coming jockeys, and Amanda mentioned the name Verica. I recognized it from the files that Rachel had shoved under my nose, and seeing how excited they were just at the prospect of having her, I had a moment foretelling my own future. I waited until the conversation had died down, and as casually as I could, I mentioned the work I’d done while Rachel was home with her family for the Fourth of July weekend.
“Verica Blythe? I contacted her agent this weekend. Just waiting to hear back on her availability for an interview.” While I relished the look of amazement in Rachel’s eyes, I thumbed through my emails on my phone. Not only had Verica’s agent replied, she was limited in availability and could only interview this week, before she was gone for a month on a training circuit. Rachel shook my arm in excitement while I tried to compose a response. It was Tucker who pointed out the obvious.
“Rachel, I think that email will get sent a lot faster if you let go and stop shaking him like that.” She giggled and let go, apologizing to me in a whisper. I sent the invitation and told the agent that, due to short notice, I was happy to reimburse the travel arrangements if he would go ahead and put her on a plane for us. No sooner was my phone back in my pocket than Rachel’s hand was high up on my thigh, and she was telling Tucker that she just felt like we had too much to do to stay out any later. I would’ve argued, but her hand had already slid to the crotch of my jeans, which were getting tighter by the second.
“Tuck, it was good hanging out,” I coughed and removed Rachel’s hand before she stopped me from being able to stand. “You two lovebirds have a good night. I’ll text you in the morning, and we’ll have you guys up for dinner Thursday, right after the interview, so y’all can meet Verica. Sound good?” Mandy squealed and Rachel wiggled in her seat, which Tuck and I both took as an all-around win.
Rachel dragged me to the truck, and when I opened the door for her, she threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. She pulled my face down to hers for a kiss so deep it drew a growl out of my throat and I shoved her up against the side of the truck for more, lifting her and bracing her back against the side of the seat as my hand slid up under her blouse and around her breast. Moaning, she slid her hand between us and down the protruding front of my jeans.
“Baby, we gotta go if that’s what you want to get at. Not in the parking lot,” I gasped, pulling her hand away. She pouted, but let me lift her into the truck, giggling when I slid my hand up her skirt for a quick feel before I shut the door. I adjusted myself and counted to ten before climbing in behind the steering wheel. Rachel was at the far side of the truck, clicking in her seatbelt and glancing at me shyly.
“Sorry, Daniel,” she said. Just the sound of her voice made me want to pull her on top of me and finish what she’d started. With a grunt of dissatisfaction, I leaned over and disengaged her seatbelt. I slid my hand between her legs and slid her clo
ser to me. She giggled and squirmed into the middle seat.
I put the truck in drive, and put my hand right back where it had been. But I moved it up to her panties and slid my fingers over the silky fabric until she clutched my arm and whimpered. I pulled my fingers away from her now damp panties, and she let out a sound of complaint.
“All’s fair, sweetheart. Now you know how I felt trying to leave Shelly’s,” I gloated. Her shoulders sagged with a pout. I held out as long as I could, but by the time we were winding up the mountain to the ranch alone on the road, I couldn’t seem to keep my hands to myself. I slid my hand between her thighs again, but instead of rubbing her soft mound through the panties, I hooked my finger under them and slid it inside her. She cried out for me to stop and watch the road. I left my hand where it was and instead, pulled over to the shoulder to face her.
“You can’t drive like that. You could crash,” she panted. I was torn between guilt and frustration that she’d been so hurt that she couldn’t trust me.
“Darlin’, I will never hurt you. Okay?” I asked, gently rubbing my finger over her, trying to get her wet for me again. “The truck is in park, and we’re all alone out here. You can relax.”
I watched her eyes change, darkening as I found the spot that would drive her over the edge. I undid her seatbelt, and she turned so her one foot was wedged under my ass and the other dangled off the seat somewhere around my knee. I watched her eyes slowly close as the pleasure drove her head back, until it rested on the seat and she braced against the door handle with both hands, pushing down against me and rocking her hips against my hand as my finger slid into her.
I used my other hand to hold her panties to one side and slid a second finger into her. I picked up the pace and watched her lovely face as she crested, biting her lip and whimpering, on that lonely road. I slowed down and then stopped. I held the softest part of her in my hand like a downy chick and waited for the waves to subside. Rachel raised her head and arched an eyebrow at me.
“Someone could’ve seen us.” The sparkle in her eye belied her guilt.
“Have you ever seen anyone else on the road out here? It’s not exactly a congested freeway we’re on right now,” I countered. “I don’t ever want you to think I would put you in danger. Not even the risk of embarrassment.
“I love the way you feel. I love your face and the fact that your small, slender hands are as calloused as mine. I love that I have your scent on me right now as we speak.” Rachel scooted upright and blushed. “I love you. Plain and simple. And if you think I’m going to let you leave and put me through another weekend like this last one, you’re out of your goddamn mind,” I concluded, feigning irritation as she gasped and gaped at me.
“If I leave you again, huh?” she replied.
I grabbed her and pulled her into my lap and her ass hit the horn. She squealed as it went off and laughed, her whole face lighting up until it shone out from her eyes. “Well, I love your smell. And the way you let me take care of myself, but always have my back. I love the way your hands feel on me and that you give me goosebumps with a look.” She rocked her hips as she sat on my lap and made me groan.
“I love you. Plain and simple. And if you ever try to make me leave again, I’ll make you carry me off the property.” She laid down against me, and put her head on my shoulder.
“We have a lot to do, but we’re going to revisit this soon. I hope you’re ready for it when it happens,” I warned her.
“I’m taking it one day at a time, but I think I can handle anything you throw at me.” Her voice sounded dreamy and happy. I didn’t know how long I sat with her in my arms, but the moon was high overhead when I finally kissed her temple and she climbed out of my lap with a sigh.
“I’m lucky you’re little, or that would’ve been a whole lot harder,” I quipped as I squeezed her butt, making her squeal and smack my arm. “Dang, girl. You hit like you mean it.” She laughed.
“If I mean it, you’ll know,” she countered.
“Yeah, I haven’t forgotten. Your poor little hand. Never have I been so satisfied to see a man get his nose broken. I just wish you hadn’t been hurt.” I frowned and looked down at the flesh-colored brace she still wore.
“Most days I don’t even remember. And Skipper is good, too. Everything I’ve accomplished on the ranch has more than canceled out a couple of scumbags who are long gone anyway.”
I had to agree. Pete had told me she was one of the quickest studies in horse husbandry he’d ever had the pleasure to teach. She threw hay bales, mucked stalls, and held fence posts without complaint. She was the first one at roll call, and the last one to turn in at the end of the day, and then after that, she still came and helped me with the never-ending paperwork.
“You’re amazing. My own parents couldn’t have imagined a better addition to the ranch than you. In fact, I’ve considered on more than one occasion to just hand the running of it over to you, since your common sense seems to outpace how fast the men can be trained to do their jobs.” I glanced over at her. Her eyes were downcast, and she smiled down at her fingers.
“I love Lago Colina. I’ve worked at other ranches, and it was always wonderful. I love the work, the animals, it’s why I’m doing what I am in school. But, I’ve never fallen in love with a job like I have this one. The first day we went riding, I felt at home, like I could’ve ridden all those trails without a guide, even though I’d never been there. Dumb huh?” She glanced up at me.
“Not dumb. Not at all.” I coaxed her to sit in the middle again. “I want you to feel at home. Because it is home.” I got us back on the road and we were driving up to the parking in front of the workers’ quarters in minutes.
I helped her out of the car and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as we walked up to her door. She pulled me in after her and let the door slam shut behind me as she backed into the room. She reached up and put her arms around my neck, and I wrapped mine around her. Her scent, vanilla and honey, made me dizzy with need. I slid my hand down over her skirt and lifted it, cupping her ass in my hands. She sighed and tipped her head back for a kiss, and I happily obliged.
I carried her to her bed and undressed her and let her do the same for me, watching her eyes light up when she slid my jeans down over my hips. She used her hands and mouth on me until I couldn’t stand before she let me lay down so she could climb up on me to finish with her sweet, tight heat what she’d begun with her mouth. Her rocking hips became my whole world while I watched the sweat bead on her upper lip and breasts. I felt her tighten around me as she screamed her pleasure and wrung the answer from my throat in a roar as I gave in to the tidal wave that crashed over me. She laid on my chest and kissed me again, sated and sighing.
She spent the rest of the night in my arms, and long after she was completely spent and had fallen asleep, I couldn’t stop thinking. I had never wanted a woman this way. I’d never waited so long just to bed her, and now I didn’t want to wait for the rest of our lives together to start. It had only been a few, short weeks, but I knew what I wanted as surely as the day I’d told my brothers that the ranch was mine. I only hoped she saw this the way I did.
I slipped my arm out from under her cheek before the sun rose and took my thoughts to my best friend. I saddled him up, and Kaiser and I rode the fences while the stars lit our way and I talked. My horse was a damn fine listener, too – didn’t argue or try to make it about him.
By the time the dew was drying off the uncut grass in the lower pasture, I had talked to my mother and she’d promised to corner my father until he promised to at least lay low, if he couldn’t give us his blessing. He, in turn, found me and lit into me like I was twelve again and had just accidentally set fire to the stables trying to make a bomb out of an end-to-end line of matches leading to a (mostly empty) gas can.
“She’s too good for you, but I can’t tell her that because I like having her here,” he chided me. “Give me a little credit for the eyes in my head, son. I know the goddamn
difference between a good-time girl and the real deal.” I shuffled my feet.
“Sorry, Pop. I know you like her, but this is awful fast. And by the way, I intended to talk to you yesterday, but Pete interrupted.”
“I should’ve known you weren’t just spending time with your old man. Never mind. With a girl like that, you don’t have much time to waste thinking about it. Period. Just, do me a favor and wait until we get Texas Tango on paper before you go making more drama with a wedding,” he groused.
I agreed not to cause him anymore grief for a bit, and he gave me one of his rare hugs. I found my mother and Patty already colluding in the kitchen about where and when to have a wedding. My mother, especially, was flushed and chirping like there wasn’t a thing to worry about.
“Mom, she has to say ‘yes’ first,” I reminded her. “I have a plan, and I’d love it if you helped me.” I told her of the ring I was having designed and how I planned to propose. She promised to have everything I needed when the time came, and Patty offered her assistance, as well.
I told them I needed to go see her father before we did anything and that calmed them down. For the moment. I took Patty’s amazing coffee back to the cottage, where Rachel was just waking. She chided me for letting her sleep in, until I handed her a mug. Instant forgiveness and a proper kiss followed. I watched her when she wasn’t paying attention, amazed that I had gone from never claiming a woman for more than a night, to needing to keep this woman forever, in such a short time.
After what was becoming our morning routine of coffee and showering together before a morning ride, I got the details of the girl-jockey coming to interview, told Rachel and my family, and emailed Miss Vale, as well. She was ecstatic and informed me that she actually knew Miss Blythe and gave me a gushing reference. Verica couldn’t have bought better, and I made a mental note to ask Rachel if that’s where she’d heard of the young jockey.
